podcast

Bowe Bergdahl's Court Win & The SWAT Team Controversy

Bowe Bergdahl's Court Win & The SWAT Team Controversy

When news broke last week that Bowe Bergdahl's legal team had scored a victory in his case, we weren't sure we understood exactly what happened. So, Kevin reached out to our trusty military legal eagle James Weirick for a quick run-down. As a bonus, we get confirmation that Weirick is, in fact, the manliest man to ever man-up.

Also, the PBS documentary Peace Officer hooked us in but also left us with some questions. As we tackle those, we also wonder, WTF is our local PD doing with a tank?

Plus, Lara gets corrected correctly, we answer a couple of listener inquiries, and the Crime of the Week posits...is it EVER too late to hand out some justice?

S2 Ep2: Why Did the Golden Chicken Cross the Road?

The Crime Writers dissect every aspect of Serial Season 2 Episode 2, "The Golden Chicken," and it gets pretty heated. Also, Rebecca is afraid of accidentally being racist, Toby and Kevin disagree on a bunch of stuff, and Lara didn't bring cheesecake. But harmony is restored by our Crime of the Week.

Related listening:

During our show, Rebecca talked about an old story on This American Life in which Sarah reported on a soldier's true motivation for going to war. You can listen to that right here:

O...M...Jay!!! We talk about that interview.

logo

Rebecca and Kevin invite special guests and fellow crime writers Lara Bricker and Toby Ball to talk about Jay's interview with The Intercept and the discussion/debate that's followed.

We also talk about the intellectual guilt of true crime lovers, and Lara's theory that this story is more steeped in drugs than we've been led to believe. Also, Toby plays devil's advocate, and a reddit user gets a big shout out for this thread.

During this episode, we discuss how The Intercept's Natasha Vargas-Cooper landed the interview with Jay. You can find more on that in this New York Observer story.

Who's Who in 'Crime Writers on Serial':

Rebecca Lavoie is a public radio digital director and radio producer and the co-author of three mass-market true crime books. If you’re flipping through the more obscure channels on your cable lineup late at night, you might see Rebecca talking about crime on one of those docu-journalism TV shows…you know, the kind with names like Deadly Women and Deadly Sins. 

Kevin Flynn is Rebecca's real-life partner in crime and her co-author. Kevin was a long time TV reporter before jumping into crime writing with his first book about serial killer Sheila LaBarre, You can also hear Kevin talking about that case on this episode of the excellent crime podcast Criminal. Among the books Kevin and Rebecca have written together is Our Little Secretwhich they discuss in the episode about "Rumors."  

Special guest panelists:

Lara Bricker is a long-time reporter, freelance writer and the author of the true crime book Lie After Lie. She has also worked as a private detective and a criminal defense investigator. 

Toby Ball is  the author of Invisible Streets and other works of noir and crime fiction. He also works at the Crimes against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire.